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 The 4-by-5-inch image shows Henry McCarty, also known as
William Bonney, playing croquet with accomplices from his New
Mexico gang known as the Regulators, according to experts
retained by the firm selling the artifact.
Guijarro, who describes himself as an U.S. history buff, said he
bought the photo at a junk shop in Fresno, California in 2010.
It was not until he studied it closely that he realized he might
be holding an important 19th-century historical item.
"The faces in the picture were very clear, and I thought that
one of them sure looks like the Kid," Guijarro said.
Guijarro took the ferrotype print to Kagin's Inc., a San
Francisco company specializing in U.S. gold coins and Western
Americana, to determine whether it was genuine.
Kagin's ultimately authenticated the photograph as only the
second known image of Bonney, and the only one that includes
members of his gang, said David McCarthy, the company's senior
numismatist.
The firm is brokering the sale of the metallic image, which it
has appraised and insured for $5 million, he said.
Much of Bonney's life is steeped in myth, including reports that
he killed 21 men. What is certain is that he was shot dead at
age 22 by Sheriff Pat Garrett in 1881, months after a daring
jailbreak.
For decades, the only known photo of Bonney was an iconic 2-by-3
inch tintype portrait of the outlaw standing outside a New
Mexico saloon, gripping the barrel of a Winchester carbine rifle
and with a single-action Colt pistol holstered on his hip.
CROQUET AND CARDIGANS
Bonney gave that photograph to his fellow cattle rustler, Dan
Dedrick, whose descendants kept it in their family until it was
put up for sale in 2011.
It was purchased for $2.3 million at a Denver auction by Florida
billionaire and energy executive William Koch.
Koch told Reuters that he spoke with Kagin's about the
recently-surfaced photo. But he said would not bid on the item,
and that he agrees with some skeptics who doubt its
authenticity.
"I already own the archetype Billy the Kid photograph," said
Koch, who possesses a vast collection of American West art and
memorabilia.
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McCarthy said Kagin's experts "validated every detail in this
photo."
McCarthy believes it was taken in September 1878 outside Roswell,
New Mexico shortly after the end of the so-called Lincoln County
War, a series of bloody skirmishes among cattle barons in the
sprawling territory.
The company retained experts in wet-plate photography, 19th-century
apparel, facial recognition technology and even on vintage croquet
sets, McCarthy said.
He said researchers placed Bonney and his cohorts in the Chaves
County area after a Texas cattle drive that wound up in New Mexico.
They even located the building in the background which is still
standing, McCarthy said, although a facade was built over it in the
1930s. A lumber expert concluded the underlying structure was from
the period, he added.
All those elements, including the ring on Bonney's pinkie finger and
his telltale clothing, point to its authenticity, McCarthy said.
"I defy you to find another cowboy wearing a cardigan sweater," he
said.
A documentary chronicling the year-long effort by Guijarro to
authenticate the photo is set to air on Sunday, Oct. 18 on the
National Geographic Channel.
For Guijarro, he quit his job a telecoms technician so he could
devote himself full time to his avocation.
"I guess I'm now an antiquarian," he said.
(Reporting by Keith Coffman; Editing by Daniel Wallis and David
Gregorio)
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